Louis McLane

Louis McLane (28 May 1786-7 October 1857) was a member of the US House of Representatives from Delaware's at-large district (F) from 4 March 1817 to 3 March 1827 (succeeding Thomas Clayton and preceding Kensey Johns Jr.), a US Senator (D) from 4 March 1827 to 16 April 1829 (succeeding Clayton and preceding Arnold Naudain), Secretary of the Treasury from 8 August 1831 to 29 May 1833 (succeeding Samuel D. Ingham and preceding William J. Duane), and Secretary of State from 29 May 1833 to 30 June 1834 (succeeding Edward Livingston and preceding John Forsyth).

Biography
Louis McLane was born in Smyrna, Delaware in 1786, and he studied law under James A. Bayard before being admitted to the bar in 1807. He served as a US Army artillery lieutenant during the War of 1812, and McLane entered politics with the Federalist Party, which was still viable in Delaware even after the fall of the rest of the Federalists due to the fallout from the secessionist Hartford Convention in New England. He served in the US House of Representatives from 1817 to 1827 and in the US Senate from 1827 to 1829, serving as a Federalist and National Republican before joining his friend Martin Van Buren's Democratic Party. From 1829 to 1831, he served as ambassador to the United Kingdom, and he served as Andrew Jackson's Secretary of the Treasury from 1831 to 1833. He pursued a more moderate approach to the national bank than President Jackson, but agreed with Jackson's 1832 bill veto a congressional bill renewing the bank's charter. After a cabinet reshuffle, McLane went on to serve as Secretary of State State from 1833 to 1834, and he helped draft the Force Bill in 1833. He resigned in 1834 due to his lack of authority in his own department, as Van Buren interfered with a dispute with France without consulting McLane. He was involved with the canal and railroad businesses before President James K. Polk appointed McLane to serve as his ambassador to Britain from 1845 to 1846. He later returned to his businesses, and he died in 1857.